ISO 14001: What it is and Why it’s Important

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How our ISO 14001 certification strengthens your supply chain

In our recent blog, How Sustainable Business Practices Help us Future-Proof your Supply Chain, we explained why ISO 14001 is a critical part of our long-term strategy, as we work to create a circular business model.  Our goal is to transition to a truly sustainable business with the lowest possible carbon footprint. 

In this blog, we’ll explore ISO 14001 in more detail and discover why it is so important, not just for us but also for our customers and other stakeholders. 

What is ISO 14001? 

The ISO 14001 standard has been developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).  This independent, non-governmental international body is perhaps best known in industrial sectors for its ISO 9001 standard, which defines quality management systems. 

ISO 14001 is recognized globally and essentially sets out the requirements for developing an environmental management system (EMS) – a system that allows organizations to identify, manage, monitor and control every one of their environmental issues in a holistic manner.  Unlike many other industrial standards, which are often based on tightly defined technical criteria, ISO 14001 is intended to be used as a framework that organizations can use as the basis on which to establish and operate an effective EMS; this allows individual organizations to create an EMS that is specific to their needs.

The key elements of ISO 14001 include: 

  • Environmental policy An organization sets out a clear policy that reflects its commitment to compliance and continuous improvement. 
  • Planning Environmental aspects, potential impacts and legal requirements are identified, with the definition of environmental objectives and targets. 
  • Implementation and operation Roles, responsibilities and resources are determined, as well as the implementation of the relevant processes and procedures to meet the environmental objectives. 
  • Monitoring and and measurement Methods to monitor and measure performance against the previously defined environmental policy, objectives and legal requirements. 
  • Evaluation of compliance Regular assessment to ensure compliance with the appropriate industry approvals and legal requirements. 
  • Review of environmental performance An organization's environmental management system is regularly reviewed to ensure its continuing suitability, adequacy and effectiveness. 
  • Continual improvement The steps above are used as part of an ongoing process to identify ways to further improve the effectiveness of the environmental management system. 

    • Why is ISO 14001 important? 

    One of the strengths of ISO 14001 is that its high-level methodology makes it easy to integrate with other processes and standards, such as ISO 9001 (quality management) and ISO 45001 (health and safety management), as part of an integrated approach to managing and developing process performance within an organization. 

    For a manufacturing business such as Michell Instruments, which has recently been awarded ISO 14001 certification, this means that we can clearly and functionally demonstrate our commitment to improving environmental performance to all stakeholders, backed by independent assessments and internationally recognized certification.  This is important for all our customers, but especially those who have already developed strong CSR and ethical policies, as our ISO 14001 certification gives them the confidence – backed by evidence – to include us as an integral part of their supply chains. 

    Just as importantly, our ISO 14001 certification has allowed us to formalize, expand and improve many of the processes that we were already adopting within our longer-term strategy to minimize our carbon footprint.  It is also providing us with the framework on which to develop new initiatives that will help us extend our policy of reducing, reusing and recycling as many commodities, raw materials and products as possible as we transition to a circular business model. 

    What does ISO 14001 look like in practice? 

    As mentioned above, each organization will have its own interpretation of ISO 14001, within the required framework.  As an example of what can be achieved, here is a brief summary of just a few of the measures we have taken – or are soon to take – as part of our environmental commitments: 

  • Product development now has to comply with criteria that include waste reduction, through improved manufacturing quality; lower energy use, through improved process control; and the ability of products, components or materials to be recycled. 
  • Within our factory in Ely, UK, we have adopted low-energy LED lighting and are migrating to variable speed drives and motors to reduce our energy requirement.  We’re also considering installing ground-source heat pumps and rainwater harvesting systems. 
  • We have redesigned our product packaging to use recyclable cardboard and bio-foam chips. 
  • We’ve transformed our calibration processes, reducing calibration time for our TDL analyzers from four weeks to just four days without affecting quality.  This has significantly reduced energy consumption and calibration gas emissions, as well as improving the service we offer to customers. 
  • In office areas we’ve adopted intelligent lighting, digitized processes to minimize paper use and eliminated all single-use plastics. 

    • Collectively, these measures are already having a significant impact on our carbon footprint and have enabled us to achieve ISO 14001 certification.  They are also helping us to further enhance the quality, productivity and efficiency of our manufacturing operation and, most importantly, to offer our customers around the world an even better combination of products and services.

    With 50 years’ experience in the development of moisture, humidity and dew-point technology, we are the application experts for all industrial applications. If you would like to discuss your requirements, please contact our team today.  

    Did you know ?

    The term ISO, in connection with various industrial standards, is used by engineers and production teams almost every day.  But, did you know that ISO standards are produced by the International Standards Organization? 

    This is an independent, non-governmental international body, made up of representatives of national standard bodies from 169 countries.  The headquarters of the organization is now in Switzerland, but was originally founded at a meeting of delegates from 25 countries at the Institute of Civil Engineers in London in 1946.  This brought together two existing organizations – the International Federation of National Standardizing Associations (ISA) and the United Nations Standards Coordinating Committee (UNSCC) – to create the International Organization for Standardization. 

    It was agreed at an early stage that, as the name of the new organization would translate differently into different languages, it would be appropriate to standardize on the short-form ISO.  This derived from the Greek ‘isos’, which means equal. 

    Today, there are an incredible 25,109 ISO standards, governing everything from technology to manufacturing and management. 

    Learn more

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